Privacy Policy

1. Information We Do NOT Collect

Unlike many financial portals, Decision Tools was intentionally architected without server-side input capture:

• No User Account or Registration Data: We do not require accounts, logins, passwords, names, or email addresses to use any of our calculators or read our guides.
• No Financial or Personal Input Storage: Every number you enter—including household income, loan balances, interest rates, rent payments, vehicle prices, and commute distances—is processed entirely in your device's browser memory (RAM) via deterministic client-side code.
• No Input Transmission to Servers: Calculator inputs are not sent across the network to our servers or to external APIs.
• No Financial Profiling or Lead Generation: We do not sell user-entered financial information to banks, mortgage brokers, auto dealerships, or insurance brokers.

2. Information We Collect Automatically

When you access https://decision-tools.org, certain non-sensitive technical and usage data is automatically gathered:

• Google Analytics 4 (GA4): We use GA4 to analyze traffic trends. GA4 collects device information (browser type, operating system, screen resolution), approximate geographic region (city/region derived from masked IP addresses), referring URLs, pages visited, time spent per page, and general interaction milestones (such as whether a calculator was started, calculated, or reset).
• Anonymized Analytics Parameters: When calculator events are dispatched to GA4, they contain strictly non-sensitive taxonomy identifiers (e.g., calculator_slug: "rent-vs-buy"). We explicitly prohibit and prevent user-entered numbers, financial inputs, or personal details from being sent to GA4.
• Standard Technical Server & CDN Logs: Like standard web infrastructure, our hosting and content delivery network providers may temporarily log incoming HTTP requests (including request timestamps, HTTP status codes, and IP addresses) for technical troubleshooting, network optimization, and DDoS mitigation.

3. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

A cookie is a small text file placed on your device by your web browser. Decision Tools utilizes cookies for analytics and advertising purposes:

• Analytics Cookies: Google Analytics uses cookies (such as _ga and _ga_*) to distinguish unique visitors across browsing sessions and compile aggregate traffic statistics. These cookies do not identify you personally.
• Advertising Cookies (Google AdSense): As described below, Google AdSense uses cookies to serve relevant advertisements.

4. Google AdSense and Third-Party Advertising

Decision Tools displays advertisements provided by Google AdSense to help fund the hosting, maintenance, and ongoing development of our free calculators and educational guides.

• Third-Party Vendor Cookies: Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on decision-tools.org.
• DoubleClick / Advertising Cookies: Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to our users based on their visit to our site and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Authorized Digital Sellers (ads.txt): We maintain an authorized ads.txt file in compliance with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards at https://decision-tools.org/ads.txt confirming our publisher relationship (Publisher ID: pub-1850854173653124).
• Personalized vs. Non-Personalized Ads: Depending on your jurisdiction and browser settings, ads displayed may be personalized based on your general interests or non-personalized based on page context.

5. Your Choices and Privacy Controls

You have full control over your browser cookies and analytics participation:

• Opt Out of Personalized Advertising: You can opt out of personalized Google advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings. You may also opt out of third-party vendor use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info.
• Opt Out of Google Analytics: You can prevent Google Analytics from collecting your site activity by installing the official Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
• Browser Cookie Management: Most modern web browsers allow you to block, delete, or manage cookies through their settings or privacy preferences. Disabling cookies will not affect your ability to use any calculator or read any guide on Decision Tools.
• Google Privacy & Terms: To learn more about how Google handles information from sites that use its services, review How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

6. Data Retention and Security

Aggregated analytics data collected via Google Analytics is retained in accordance with standard GA4 retention policies (typically 2 to 14 months) before automated deletion. Because we do not store calculator inputs or maintain user databases on our servers, there are no databases of user financial records or customer records stored by Decision Tools.

7. Links to External Websites

Our guides and educational resources may contain reference links to external third-party websites (such as government data sources like the IRS, Bureau of Labor Statistics, or EIA). We are not responsible for the privacy practices, content, or terms of third-party external websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any site you visit.

8. Children's Privacy

Decision Tools is designed for general audiences interested in financial and practical decision modeling. We do not knowingly collect any personal information from children under 13 years of age.

9. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect improvements to our tools, legal requirements, or adjustments in analytics and advertising practices. Any updates will be published directly on this page with a revised "Last Updated" date.

10. Contacting Us About Privacy

If you have questions, feedback, or concerns regarding our privacy practices or the mathematical transparency of our tools, please visit our dedicated Contact Page or review our About & Methodology Page.